There are incredible things that become a blessing if you know how to say yes … that happened to me as Comboni Lay Missionary in the amazing world of interacting with children. In my daily life, I teach at a university and one day the good Lord asked me if I wanted to be a catechist for first Communion, the answer was without thinking, it was only for love, I said yes. Yes ?? !!! Yes. However, I was not a specialist in children and had only led teenagers Confirmation. Evidently, God wanted to give me an unforgettable experience … a true mission (which at one point I thought to be “impossible”).
“La Cumbre” (The Summit) (Pamplona Alta, San Juan de Miraflores) is part of our area of Mission in Lima. We as CLM reach this urban-human periphery with enthusiasm, there is no need to know trekking or mountaineering, although you just have to keep smiling as you climb the hills of our sector of Mission. A small guitar, some banners of our Jesus and Mary and the precarious lounge, every Sunday I WAS EVANGELIZED by the purity, humility and hope of every child who prepared very excited to get the sacrament. We shared the Word of God and the beautiful good news that Jesus had his own house on that hill so far from the city full of malls, highways and modernity. Jesus also expected the tanker that supplied the water because in those hills there is no running water, but there is a lot of love.
After several months, when sand of the hills stopped of been mud and the sun started to shine timidly in December on this side of Lima, Jesus dwelt at the heart of my “catechists”. I shared the Kerygma between dances, songs and conversations and they, my little ones, evangelized me with the conviction to arrive happy to their First Communion day. This January, the Lord gave me the honor to work with children in another city in my country, and in them I returned to relive my first experience as CLM “catechist”. That grace blessed me and think it all started with a yes.
Elizabeth Huaita
CLM-Peru
